Local woman accepted in Duke Physician Assistant Program

Despite a number of challenges while growing up, a local woman has been accepted for the Duke Physician Assistant Program beginning in the fall.

Giseline Martinez Ponce, a graduate of Surry Central High School and Surry Community College, has already been in the medical field for several years, but she wanted to become a physician’s assistant.

Now, she will have that chance.

Martinez Ponce says she went through high school with a few challenges. Her parents were mostly Spanish speaking, never attending any schools in the United States, and her financial resources were limited.

None of those issues stopped her from studying hard, taking extra classes and honors classes, and becoming the valedictorian of the Surry Central High School 2013 graduating class.

She said she will always remember the Surry Community College representative coming to speak with high school students to present the community college as an option for graduating seniors, and at that time, she realized SCC was a perfect fit.

Her SCC advisor helped her apply for a scholarship to attend, and the rest, as they say, is history.

At the local college, Martinez Ponce started study groups with like-minded students. Even though Calculus I was the only math requirement for her program, she took Calculus II “for fun,” and even started the Math Honor Society at SCC in 2013. She was also a member of SCC’s Alpha Xi Tau Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society.

Martinez Ponce graduated in 2015 with an associate in science degree, as well as a certificate in the Certified Nurse Aid (CNA) program, and then transferred to Salem College in Winston-Salem.

“The greatest resource I had at Surry Community College was forming connections with my instructors,” she said. “They knew me as a person and not just as a student. My advisor came to me to help me find scholarships and a program at Salem College. I transferred there as a junior, and the only classes I still needed to take for my four-year degree were their upper-level science courses.”

Graduating from Salem College in 2017 with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry, Martinez Ponce returned to Surry Community College in 2018 to take medical terminology classes. She also spent time working as a Certified Nursing Assistant to get basic medical experience to allow her to apply to a Physician Assistant program. Since August 2021, she has worked as the coordinator of pharmacy services at Grace Clinic of Yadkin Valley in Elkin.

After applying to Duke University School of Medicine, Martinez Ponce received the Hamilton-Carter Scholarship and has been accepted into the Duke Physician Assistant Program for classes this fall.

To learn more about programs and classes offered at Surry Community College, visit surry.edu, or contact Student Services at 336-386-3264 or studentservices@surry.edu.